A core network access provisioning platform (also referred to herein as “Core180 platform”) provides secure and dedicated long haul transport over the platform's private backbone network. The Core180 platform acts as a neutral gateway and virtual point of presence into significantly more providers than those that would be otherwise available to a customer. The Core180 platform intersects hundreds of carrier networks and enables additional control including, but not limited to, location, speed, and value. The Core180 platform can deliver local connectivity to any endpoint in North America.
The Core180 platform may provide an ability to design a circuit that couples at least one endpoint to at least one other endpoint based on customer requests for network connectivity between the endpoints. For example, a computer server in Rhode Island may be coupled to a computer server in Florida using a circuit designed/provided by the Core180 platform. The circuit may include one or more segments coupled to one another to form the circuit. In order to provide the customer with a circuit that has the best price/performance value, segments from many suppliers may be selected and integrated at unique integration points in the platform's backbone network in addition to segments provided by the Core180 platform itself. In other words, selection of segments from the backbone network itself and/or one or more suppliers may be based on which set of segments for the circuit provide the best price/performance value for the customer request. When the circuit includes a segment from one or more suppliers other than the backbone network, the segment from the one or more suppliers may be coupled to the backbone network at an interconnect point. In other words, the interconnect point may couple the backbone network with an outside or third party vendor of network services. Thus, the circuit may include all or a portion of the backbone network provided by the Core180 platform and/or all or a portion of outside vendor networks.
Each segment may terminate at one or more equipment (which may be part of Core180 platform, i.e., the private backbone network). Each equipment may include channels/ports being used to couple the segment. Without information related to network capacity, a user may be unable to design an appropriate circuit. For example, without a real-time inventory of available equipment, the user may attempt to add a segment that includes equipment that is unavailable. Equipment may be unavailable because, for example, it is already in use by another circuit, is undergoing maintenance or other down-time, and/or is otherwise not available for use. Additionally, without an inventory of channels of existing circuits that may be available for use, optimal use of circuits/facilities may be difficult to achieve.
Furthermore, the user may manually enter the ports/channel/equipment being used in the designed circuit without any constraints, which may present problems such as, among others, data entry errors, fictitious names (i.e., made-up names), and/or other data integrity errors.